IFLA Section on Library and Research Services for Parliaments

ANNUAL REPORT

September 2004 – September 2005

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The work for the Section has been made possible thanks to the active contribution, keen participation and commitment of the Section Officers: Dr. June Verrier, Secretary of the Section and Gro Sandgrind, our Information Coordinator. Unfortunately, during the year 2005, Dr. Verrier resigned her position. The Conferences have been a success primarily thanks to organizers of specific meetings, rapporteurs, presentators, and the commitment of colleagues, friends and participants, and the commitment of the Norwegian Parliamentary Library. We are particularly thankful for receiving the third comer up Newsletter of the Year Award, with the invaluable work of June Verrier and her assistant, Ms. Katrina Arte, seconded by the Chair.

Our special thanks and recognition to the Norwegian for the generous hosting, the extraordinarly well organized Preconference, with special mention of the contents and participants, as well as the production efforts to get things going seamlessly and without a glitch. With our gratitude, and congratulations.

M.D.

SCOPE STATEMENT

In accordance with the mission and objectives of IFLA, the Section on Library and Research Services for Parliaments recognises the central role that information must play in the effective functioning of a democratic legislature. In representing parliamentary libraries, the Section encompasses parliamentary and legislative libraries that provide information and documentation services to Parliamentarians and also those that include a research and analysis service. These services are provided to national legislatures in unitary states and to both national and regional legislatures in countries with a federal system of government. The activities undertaken by those who provide library and research services for parliaments range from the identification, location, interpretation, synthesis, and timely delivery of information to in-depth analysis and development of choices for the legislature.

In addition to the library skills of acquisition, indexing, reference work and the use of information technology, there is often a need for subject and disciplinary expertise, significant presentational skills and an understanding of legislative procedures and official publications. The concept of service to members of the legislature, the primary clientele, is fundamental to parliamentary libraries and research services.

STANDING COMMITTEE, OFFICERS OF THE SECTION

Standing Committee Officers 2003–2005

Chair / Treasurer Aug 2005-2007 Donna Scheeder Law Library, Library of Congress, USA:

1 Chair/Treasurer Until Aug., 2005 Marialyse Délano Serrano Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile Head, Department of Information Resources Huérfanos 1117, 2 piso Santiago Chile e–mail: [email protected] phone: +56 2 270 17 00 fax: +56 2 270 17 47

Secretary, 2005-2007 Margareta Brundin Riksdagen, Sweden

Secretary, until 2005: Dr. June R. Verrier Commonwealth Parliament Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600

Information Co–ordinator: Ms Gro Sandgrind Information Coordinator of IFLA PAR Section Parliamentary Librarian Library of the Norwegian Parliament Karl Johansgt. 22 N-0026 Tel. +(47)23313685 Fax +(47)23313859 Email: [email protected]

Our newly elected or re-elected members, 2005 - 2009

• Ms. Irina Andreeva • Mrs. Eleni Mitrakou • Mrs. Margareta Brundin • Ms. Caryn Carr • Ms. Anita Dudina • Mr. Hugh Finsten • Ms. Moira Fraser • Mr. Younghee Park • Mrs. Gro Sandgrind • Ms. Janet Seaton • Mr. Segundo Soto Coronel

SC members whose term is on going are:

• Ali-Abdel-Elah, Wafaaa: second term 2003-2007 • Almeida Maia, Cristiane: first term 2003-2007 • Delano, Marialyse: second term 2003-2007 • Karl Min Ku: first term 2003-2007 • Moesi, Josephine: first term 2003-2007 • Parker, Sara: second term 2003-2007 • Scheeder, Donna: second term 2003-2007 • Singh, N.K: first term 2003-2007 • Verrier, June: second term 2003-2007 (recently resigned as Secretary of the Section).

Corresponding Members, 2003 – 2007 are:

• Margarita Angelova

2 • Tembi Chalabase Mtine • Bharti Tiwari • Fumihiko Kamata

Members whose two terms have expired or who not re-nominated.

• Aranda Torres, Patricio • Cuninghame, Keith • Kulisiewicz, Wojciech • Choi Moon Hyu • Nzo-Nguty, Bernard • Paré, Richard, who served as Chair and has made great contributions to the Section during his tenure.

MEMBERSHIP

The Section has 110 members representing 57 countries as of October 2004. Among the members there are 74 parliamentary libraries, 6 National libraries, 16 National Associations, 5 International Associations and other Institutions and 9 Personal Affiliates.

FINANCES

The Section received for the year 2004-2005 an amount of 610 Euro from IFLA to cover the costs of running the Section’s activities. Of the allowance, 172 Euros were spent on: photocopies during the Buenos Aires Conference, bank account transfer and handling charges, and 100 Euros for IFLA overhead charges for the Preconference. The Parliament of Australia sponsored the printing and distribution of the Section’s Newsletter and the Chilean Library of Congress the Preconference; the Argentinian Library of Congress funded the Management Workshop at its premises.

For the year 2005-2006 the Section received an amount of 610 Euro from IFLA. During the year 207 Euros were spent on: photocopies, bank account transfers and handling charges, mail, and 100 Euros for IFLA overhead charges for the Preconference. The remaining sum of …. was returned to IFLA HQ. The Chilean Library of Congress financed some photocopies and mailing costs. The Storting generously hosted, and financed the Preconference, the Research Meeting and the Workshop.

The Section has up to date 699 Euros (2005) returned to HQ, according to new procedures and is entitled another 610 Euros for 2006. It must be stressed that this amount was generated by the generous contribution of both the Argentinian and the Norwegian Parliament, who provided venues and refreshments for the Research Meeting and the Workshop, activities that had been financed by the Section on previous occasions.

Alas, this amount could not cover the translations and transcription of the Valparaíso meeting and was not enough for financing translation for the Oslo programme meeting, which was extremely expensive.

COMMUNICATIONS

For IFLA 2004 -2005, the Section prepared and sent letters to the 110 registered members of the Section and in excess of 100 additional letters to frequent participants, including Standing Committee members. Members have been actively and permanently contacted during 2004- 2005 by the Section’s officers, for participation, information and suggestions.

CONFERENCES

Prior to the Oslo WLIC, the Section held its 21th Annual International Conference of Parliamentary Librarians also in Oslo, at the Storting. Due to a change in format of the Conference, to make the meetings shorter in time duration, the Research Meeting was held during the Preconference and all of the previous activities were held in Oslo.

3 21st. Annual Conference of Library and Research Services, IFLA Library and Research Services for Parliaments Preconference, hosted by the Norwegian Parliament, the Stortinget. August 10th., and 11th. Location: the Storting building

Theme: Knowledge and Information for Parliaments – a premise for Democracy The activities, meetings and presentations planned for Wednesday were chaired by Gro Sandgrind, the Parliamentary Librarian, the Storting.

The Delegates were warmly received at the Storting for registration, coffee and snack, between 12 and 13 hrs. For all, it was a moment for enjoying meeting friends after a year of not seeing each other.

The Conference was opened with addresses from Inge Lønning, Vice-President of the Storting and Gro Sandgrind, Parliamentary Librarian. The presentations considered Parliaments and Parliamentary Libraries as communities that enable politicians to do a good job. We are in a high touch organisation, with community sharing to bring and take ideas, as a challenge and positive experience of neighbourly help.

Following the welcome speeches, the audience heard the presentations from Erik Nessheim, Senior Political Adviser, Conservative Party; Lisbeth Rugtvedt, Political Adviser, Socialist Left Party; Jarle Skjørestad, Head of Research Services on the need for knowledge and information in the parliamentary process. Mr. Nessheim mentioned that although Library work was an asset, there were instances in which parliamentarians could live a comfortable and quite successful life sticking to what the government said. He considered of importance whitepapers, newspapers and information from lobby areas. Ms. Rugtvedt leading the work of 14 staff, mentioned the importance of working directly with the Library, and not with information intermediaries. She stressed the importance of building trust ref the model of reality implicit in research, not only facts and information. And, opposition needs independent and not government information. She considered Internet as a new arena for political work. A lively discussion period followed, in which Jarlo Sjorestad, from the Research Services mentioned the tyranny of experts and yet required experts in the legislative process.Dan Mulhollan, from the US CRS mentioned public hearings in the US, and Donna Scheeder the intelligence forum for serios debate; Eva Falk discussed the tyranny of selected experts, and Eva ref information from constituencies.

After coffee, the subject of Openness, transparency and democracy – the Norwegian model, was addressed by Professor Tom Christensen, . Prof. Christensen referred to the concept of direct and indirect democracy; the relationship between election results and representation and the increasingly strong role of the executive branches. As to openness and transparency, information is the central issue and a crucial precondition for popular participation. The issues opened up with considerations as to access to information, e-government, referenda, and the Norwegian model with unique Scandinavian features including strong people and media scrutiny. The role of the State as a service provider and optimistic and pessimistic views of openness and transparency.

The next paper, Preparing the grounds for democracy, was presented by Inger L. Figved, Head of Information and Documentation Department Inger Figved is the head of a department including the Library, the Research Service, the printing office and other areas related to information at the Stortinget. Ms. Figved referred to the concept of information and the better use of democratic rights, a better decision taking on the part of an MP and a well informed staff providing better support for its members. She mentioned the Constitutional principles, the objectives of information activities, the manner of obtainin information for work at the Stortin, documentation aspects, the freedom of information act and outreaching information. Upon finishing her presentation, Ms. Figved took the Alice in Wonderland metaphor of the grinning cat that is getting somewhere as long as he walks enough. She then asked participants to join her in a lively song.

Later in the evening, Ms. Figved, Gro and members of the Stortinget invited the participants to a fine Reception in the Gallery, a large historical room with paintings depicting famous MPs. A Guided tour of the Storting in English, German and French “The Storting and the Union between Norway and Sweden” - an exhibition was offered. Observing the areas for student democracy and parliamentary training with role playing was particularly interesting to the visitors from several points of view; citizen education; youth involvement in political activities; simulation of legislative processes; the physical layout of the area for this activitiy; the subject amplitude of the simulations.

4 The Thursday, 11th., August, meetings were chaired by Grete Karin Granholt

The first and second blocks of the morning were a presentation of strategic services offered by the Storting Library, by: Ebbe Aarvåg, Jeannette Berseth, Nina T. Svendsen and Gro Sandgrind. The portal – Løveporten was shown and a very interesting service, that of news services and news monitoring - current awareness services for parliamentarians generated quite a bit of interest. The training and the use of electronic services were also shown.

After a very nice lunch at the Storting restaurant, the afternoon continued with presentations on the cooperation between the Nordic parliamentary libraries Representatives from the Nordic parliamentary libraries share their experiences of working together. Presentations by: Tuula Laaksovirta and Kristiina Hakala, Finland, Eva Falk, Sweden, Hanne Rasmussen, Denmark, Kristín Geirsdóttir, Iceland and Gro Sandgrind, Norway. The Nordic parliamentary libraries showed their tradition of working together, networking and meeting at least once a year for common projects, as well as organising a meeting amongst operative staff of the libraries. The years of sharing ideas such as information kiosks, addressing similar problems such as budget and relations with IT people, and cooperation with ECPRD, have built strong friendships. Tuula wrapped her presentation with a reflection on sharing as difficult, rewarding, expensive, and if cooperation is helping democracy in the North… human interaction, she says is always a set of successes and failures, and Nordic cooperation is a study of democracy, going on for 83 years.

Kristiina Hakala, from the Finnish Information and Communication Unit made a brief presentation of the Finnish Parliament, and three components: the Library, the Research Service and the Parliament Information Office. The main issues addressed by Kristiina were the web services; training; visitor´s centre; the research service and the library.

Dinner at Østmarkseteren was hosted by Hans Brattestå, Secretary General of the Storting. The restaurant is one of the best dining places in Oslo with an outstanding view of the hills and forests surrounding the city. The members of the Section were delighted and thankful to the Norwegian hosts and specially Mr. Brattesta, for arranging a very special invitation with superb cuisine, too.

Friday, August 12th.: Research Meeting and IFLA Coordinating Board Meetings.

The Research meeting was formerly a satellite meeting on its own, within the IFLA Conference frame, but due to the demand of shortening the IFLA Conference it has been included in the Preconference since 2004. The Coordinating Board Meetings are the IFLA business meetings of the Division members; the Library and Research Services for Parliaments Section belongs to Division I: general research Libraries, as well as general university libraries and national libraries.

Brit Fløistad, Research Services of the Storting and former Secretary and SC member of the Section, gave the opening remarks and chaired the Research Day.

Theme 1 Updated and reliable knowledge to parliamentarians - the main challenge for parliamentary research services

This block of presentations included the Scottish Parliament, by Denis Oag and Simon Wakefield; the Armenian Parliament, by Ellie Valentine and the Norwegian Parliament, Hilde Markhus.

Th Norwegian Research is made up of 5 full time researchers and 2 part times and met 300 requests. The challenge for the group was reliability, full responsibility for work, the time frame and the increasing demands. The client decides if the request is confidential. Hilde Markhus presented the Research Service, the main activities, staff, quality assurance issues and obtaining trust from the clients.

Denis and Simon, from Scotland referred to the enquiry systems and a database for tracking complex enquiries. They do not have a unique entry point for requests. Susan Swift from Canada, asked about the mentoring aspect for researchers. In the presentation they referred to the main challenges, building and maintaining a distinctive service without the spin of the government, the hype of the media, the jargon of academia or vested interests of lobby groups. The main concern is understanding needs and aligning services, client liaison for getting closer to customer needs, personal interview planning process, and feedback

5 Ellie Valentine, from Armenia, presented the main challenge for parliamentary research services in Armenia. She began with terms definition to set the frame for her presentation. The National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia has had 15 years of activity, and it has a research mission. She mentioned the strengths and difficulties on getting the service going and the inevitable search for creative solutions.

Theme 2 The role of research services in the parliamentary process

The introduction by Brit, was followed by presentations of the Library of Parliament, Canada, Hugh Finsten; the Israeli Parliament, Jacob Warshavski, the House of Commons, Keith Cuningham and Fumihiko Kamata, from the Japanese National Diet Library.

Canada, Hugh Finsten presented the delegated legislation in Canada, in which the legislative delegates power to the executive for regulations, orders and subordinate legislation. This, because of the complexity of modern government and other aspects of the processs such as issues that cannot be put into legislation. But,it has consequences since these regulations could be precisely those that affect the citizen´s every day life. Hugh also referred to the role of the library on the review of government spending.

Andrzej Dziubecky from Poland presented a paper of the Polish Senate Information Services after the accession to the European Union. It represents a challenge such as creating an European information system. There is presently and office responsible for the flow of information from the European Parliament to the Senate and an ongoing project IPEX network which will facilitate this flow.

Jacob Warshavsky, from the Knesset Research and Information Services made a presentation on the role of the research and information services in the parliamentary process. He emphasized “ to see analyze and understand what no one understood before”. The presentation described the Service´s organization, the conceptual model of the service and activities such as mapping the government activities.

Keith Cuninghame presented the UK perspective on the role of the research service in the parliamentary process. He described the role of the library and the draft of the primary objectives; some facts about the library; research outputs, scrutiny of the executive. Some products are: research papers; standard notes; debate packs. The Library is examining the role of legislation briefing, to see if it needs refocusing. The contribution to the scrutiny roles has been limited, and even though changing, it is unlikely to become a central part of the work; the importance of constituency work of the MPs; general debates have been rather neglected but that is changing.

Fumihiko Kamata, from Japan´s NDL described the recent developments of services in providing foreign legislative information. He also referred to the role of the NDL as a national library and the structural reforms of the Main Library and the Research Bureau. An overseas legislative information division was set up to monitor foreign legislative trends. The division is made up of 12 staff, and monitors 9 countries. Much information is published on the Internet. Some subjects covered as anticipatory work have been a joint research on human trafficking. A current theme is renewable energy.

After the presentations, the floor was opened and participants encouraged to give short reports from research services on organizational changes, new services, extended/changed routines etc. Some questions brought up and discussed by Gro Sandgrind, Alim Garga, Soledad Ferreiro, and Keith Cuninghame were: Some doubts about assessment; who is really evaluating; a major reinvention project in Chile and the interest in knowing assessment experiences; and.. is it possible to measure, get the figures and still be wrong… soft measurements? Some reflections and a new term: the experience economy. You could be user driven into the ground; indicators aligned with strategic and operational objectives; involve all thee staff, or hand down the indicators?; some experiencies with ISO 9000 and ISO 9001 as a quality manual of processes.

Closing remarks. Marialyse Délano, Chair, Library and Research Services for Parliaments Section addressed the group some time before the closing of the meeting because of the IFLA Coordinating Board Meeting, to be attended by the Section Officers. Mrs. Delano thanked the hosts, complimented the speakers and presented the chairpersons with a token of appreciation. Inger L. Figved, Head of the Information and Documentation Department, addressed the group with the final words.

6 Saturday, August 13th. On the morning of Saturday 13th the Section was invited to a hiking walk to Nordmarka, to Frognerseteren and to the Holmenkollen area, a mountainous area in the outskirts of Oslo. The group was provided with a picnic pack, a raincoat and took a train to the starting point of the walk. The day was lovely and the Section members vigorously climbed and descended the wooded hills to the ski jumping arena, to meet the buses. At the end of the morning, buses picked up the group and took them directly to the SC venue. Monday, August 15th.

On Monday, while the main IFLA Conference was on going, a group met for planning ideas for Korea. Janet Seaton, Anita Dudina, Moira Fraser, Gro Sandgrind, Donna Scheeder and Marialyse Delano. Moira volunteered to organise the Management Workshop and Hugh and Keith the Research Meeting. Later, conversations were held with our Korean colleagues and important information they could share with the Section such as top notch technology issues.

Tuesday, August 16th.

On Tuesday morning, the Storting provided a meeting room for a group from the Section who were interested in reviewing IT issues, as present or future users of a new software, Autonomy. Participants were: Jan Keukens, Soledad Ferreiro, Edward Wood, Janet Seaton, Erik (Market Audit, Norway, Autonomy service provider) Sarah Parker, Hugh Finsten, Andre van der Meer, Patrick Gregory, Keith Cuninghame, Anita Bloomberg, Jeannette Berseth, Gro Sandgrind, Moira Fraser, Marialyse Délano. The meeting was for sharing IT ideas and concerns, and the experience in using a new software engine. The participants were in the process of changing the IT or had just done so. Many were interested in knowing about the Autonomy experience of the Netherlands, UK, Norway and Sweden, as a cross search integrating software. The meeting precisely showed the value of coming to IFLA meetings, sharing concerns and establishing networks between colleagues.

On Tuesday, from 14:30 to 15:00, a special appointment was set to introduce Donna Scheeder as new SC Chair to IFLA Headquarters, Sjoerd Koopman and Josche Neven.

Wednesday, August 17th: Management Workshop of the Section.

The Library and Research Services for Parliaments Section traditionally holds a Workshop on Management issues that are particular to Parliamentary services. This workshop has been particularly useful and popular amongst the members of the Section, as alternatives to share important “tips”, ideas and concrete problems and solutions. The Workshop was successfully chaired and organised by Anita Dudina from Latvia.

Each workshop had a rapporteur and a final wrap up ended the day. The reports by the rapporteurs are indicated separately. The following workshops were held, in a repeated format to allow all to attend more than one: 1. How can the impact of the work of Parliamentary Libraries and Research Services be measured? Hugh Finsten (Canada)

2. The challenges of staff management in a parliamentary environment. Margareta Brundin (Sweden). Margareta had prepared an introduction but was unable to participate, and Anita Dudina (Latvia)stepped into her position.

3. Information literacy and the parliament. Moira Fraser (New Zealand)

4. How to use and regulate outsourcing of research services. (Brainstorm) Ahmed al-Mukhaini (Oman)

5. Technology as servant or master: striking the right balance. Soledad Ferreiro (Chile)

6. Marketing in the parliamentary environment: political, cultural and traditional restraints. Marga Coing (Germany)

WORLD LIBRARY AND INFORMATION CONGRESS, 71TH. IFLA GENERAL CONFERENCCE AND COUNCIL

At the WLIC main conferences, the Section attended various subject areas such as information literacy, electronic publications, conservation of electronic resources and others. Each member individually attended those subject tracks of interest to his or her work and institution.

7 Standing Committee Meeting I and II

The Standing Committee Meetings were held according to schedule, with a good turnout of members. (SC Minutes, sent as a separate document).

Thursday, August 18th Section Programme Meeeting

On Thursday, August 18th, at the main IFLA Conference, the programme meeting was held. The programme included two papers on the red thread IFLA subject: Parliamentary libraries and research services, a voyage of discovery

A short introduction and presentation was made by Marialyse Delano, upon the difference between unveiling and discovering and inventing: something that is there to be found out and something that must be created. She addressed complexity issues and navigating in a sea of complexity and uncertainty. How a new buzz word has come up, that of the “Experience Economy”, and the relevancy which we cannot do without. 1. Information quality standards: our guide to navigating the seas of misinformation. DONNA SCHEEDER (Law Library of Congress, Washington DC, USA). At: http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla71/papers/192e-Scheeder.pdf

2. 21st century challenges: the view from the Scottish Parliament JANET SEATON (Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh, UK) The papers were presented and a lively and active discussion period followed. The full papers are available at the IFLA web.

C B I Meeting

Marialyse Délano attended the Coordinating Board meeting, chaired by Cristóbal Pasadas, and the transition as Ms. Donna Scheeder was chosen the Division Chair.

REPORT: STRATEGIC PLANS 2004-2005

Mission

The Library and Research Services for Parliaments Section exists: y To promote democracies and legislative processes through the provision of information and knowledge to parliaments; y To promote knowledge on legislation and legislative processes to the citizens, for transparency and strengthening of democratic participation; y To serve as an instance of exchange of experiences, knowledge, problem solving situations and networking, particularly in serving a political environment; y To promote best practices in providing information and knowledge to Parliaments y To provide a forum for anticipation on issues relating to legislative processes.

Goals 1. Provide a forum for trend watching and cooperation between the knowledge services for legislatures, in a globalized information society, in which legislative processes regulate the relations of a society, the citizens and the state powers. (Professional priorities: a. Supporting roles of libraries in society, b. Defending the principle of freedom of information, d. Providing unrestricted access to information)

Actions: 1.1 Presentations in Buenos Aires, IFLA 2004, on trends for Library and Research Services for Parliaments: DONE 1.2 Presentation or round table in Oslo, IFLA 2005, on anticipation, legislative trends and the impact on Parliamentary Libraries and Research Services: DONE, in the Research Meeting and the Preconference. 1.3 Establish a trend, exchange and information resources for parliaments web page, as a project developed by the Chilean Library of Congress on behalf of the Parliamentary Libraries and

8 Research Services Section, with ECPRD funding. DONE (presentation approved by the SC in Oslo).

2. Promote citizen participation and democratic enabling activities from Parliaments, in the context of the Information Society and Information Literacy initiatives. (Professional priorities: d. Providing unrestricted access to information; b. Defending the principle of freedom of information; f. Promoting resource sharing; a. supporting role of libraries in society)

Actions: 2.1 Presentation, in Buenos Aires, IFLA 2004, on a citizen participation forum experience. DONE (Democracy enabling initiatives) 2.2 Opening a work group within the Section, on citizen participation and democracy enabling activities, to begin in Buenos Aires 2004. PARTIALLY DONE: an informal group has been working and included in Oslo subjects such as information literacy in a parliamentary environment.

3. Promote better laws and better lawmaking processes with the provision of information and knowledge services. ( Professional priorities: a. supporting role of libraries in society; i. Promoting standards, guidelines and best practices; )

Actions: 3.1 Share amongst the members indicators of impact of knowledge in better laws and lawmaking. DONE: This is an ongoing activity and search amongst the members for indicators and a permanent exchange of ideas and concerns. 3.2 Share amongst members the processes and actions involved in providing information and knowledge for better laws and lawmaking. DONE

4. Promote understanding and experience sharing of working in a politically complex environment. (Professional priorities: i. Promoting standards, guidelines and best practices; h. Developing library professionals; )

Actions: 4.1 Continue sharing experiences on the particularities of requests from parliamentarians and the way in which Libraries have solved them.. DONE 4.2 Open a FAQ page on an Information Resources for parliaments, and requests and the way in which Parliamentary Libraries and Research Services have solved them, as part of the web pages in development by the Chilean Library of Congress with ECPRD and Chilean funding. DESIGN READY, IMPLEMENTATION UNDER WAY. 4.3 Explore alternative organizational affiliations to IFLA in order to increase the value of going to section meetings for participants. DONE in search for funding alternatives. Contacts made with IPU and Parlatino.

5. Encourage programmes to foster the incorporation into the Information Society of Parliamentary Libraries and Research Services in the context of future trends such as direct democracy and e- government. (Professional priorities: a. supporting role of libraries in society;

Actions: 5.1 Share experiences and joint programmes with the IFLA government Section for future conferences. PENDING 5.2 Share experiences and joint programmes with the IFLA information Literacy Section for future conferences. PARTIALLY DONE: A workshop was held on information literacy, led by Moira Fraser. There was no direct coordination with the Information Literacy Section.

6. Encourage professional competencies required within the Parliamentary Library and Research services environment. (Professional priorities: i. Promoting standards, guidelines and best practices; h. Developing library professionals; )

Actions: 6.1 Share key competencies required in Parliamentary Libraries and Research Services in Preconferences and workshops, in Oslo and Seoul. DONE, ongoing concern..

9 6.2 Exchange ideas on new developments and trends in parliamentary information and research provision. DONE, ongoing concern. 6.3 Support small and newly developing parliamentary libraries and research services with practical strategies for action. DONE, ongoing concern, with special focus of workshops.

7. Provide and share information about the Section and the Standing Committee. (Professional priorities: a. Supporting role of libraries in society; d. Providing unrestricted access to information; f. Promoting resource sharing; g. Preserving cultural heritage; h. Developing library professionals; i. Promoting standards, guidelines and best practices.)

Actions: 7.1 Prepare and distribute the Newsletter twice a year. DONE 7.2 Exchange information permanently via Iflaparl DONE 7.3 Keep members and SC permanently informed and consulted on issues relating IFLA and the Section. DONE 7.4 Promote democratic participation on decisions and issues pertaining the Section and the SC. DONE-

8. To promote membership of the Section and seek a broader representation of the standing committee. (Professional priorities: a. Supporting role of libraries in society; d. Providing unrestricted access to information; f. Promoting resource sharing; h. Developing library professionals. )

Actions: 8.1 Actively seek and contact colleagues and parliamentary libraries, particularly in Latin America and developing countries to attend and participate in Buenos Aires, IFLA 2004. DONE and a Latin American Association of Parliamentary Libraries was launched. 8.2 Actively seek and contact colleagues and parliamentary libraries, particularly in Latin America and developing countries to attend and participate in Oslo, IFLA 2005. DONE.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

It has been an important concern, both the length of the Conference, the reduced time slots for the Section and the required 100 Euros to be payed to HQ for the Preconference. All of this at a great cost to members who pay the institutional fees, the attendance to the Conferences as well as the time consuming voluntary work to participate in the Section. It has been an important concern, both the length of the Conference, the reduced time slots for the Section and the required 100 Euros to be payed to HQ for the Preconference. All of this at a great cost to members who pay the institutional fees, the attendance to the Conferences as well as the time consuming voluntary work to participate in the Section. Networking, sharing and the greater organization as being part of IFLA are acknowledged as an asset and an important value, and our members and attendees show interest and commitment to participate.

Marialyse Delano Serrano, outgoing Chair of Section on Library and Research Services for Parliaments, Chilean Library of Congress.

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